Apparatus for the continuous aftertreatment of threads



June 23, 1942. o w m Y 2,287,031

APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS AFTER-TREATMENT OF THREADS Filed Sept. 15, 1939 Heinrllalv 5 05 vein;

arranged one above the other.

Patented June 23, 1942 UNITED STATE APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS AFTER- TREATMENT OF THREADS Heinrich Frohwein, many, assignor to poration, New York, N. Y.,

Delaware Oberbruch, Rhineland, Ger North American'Rayon Cora corporation of Application September 15, 1939, Serial No. 295,069

In Germany September 29, 1938 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for use in the continuous after-treat- 1937, now Patent No. 2,194,470, is described a process and apparatus for use in the continuous after-treatment of yarn of artificial origin. In accordance with the disclosure in this application the freshly spun artificial viscose yarn is passed in a helical path over a pair of inclined rollers After-treating liquid in the form of diluted sulfuric acid is sprayed upon the upper roller while water at elevated temperature is sprayed upon the lower roller during the passage of the thread thereover.

It has also been proposed to heat the upper portion of the upper roller and to pass the thread over this heating zone in order to dry it. Yarn thus after-treated may be wound up immediately after drying and is then ready for use in the textile converting industry.

For certain uses, however, subject the artificial yarn in addition to the aforementioned after-treating steps to a sizing process prior to drying and further textile handling.,

In the continuous after-treatment and sizing of threads in which two rollers are employed as described in the aforementioned co-pending application, the sizing solution. is usually sprayed upon the lower r oller, while the surface of the upper portion of the top roller is heated in order to dry the after-treated and sized thread prior to winding and thus avoid agglutination of the different thread bodies with one another.

It has been found that the spraying of the sizing solution directly upon the roller is acdraw-backs. Not only the sizing solution take companied by various might a splashing of it is necessary to place but if the supply of solution is not constantly uniform, excessive amounts of solution will be taken up by the thread if the supply is too great. In this case the thread in passing from the lower roller to the upper one will take excessive amounts of sizing solution to the upper roller where itmixes with the sulfuric acid, being sprayed thereon, while the excessive liquid on thelower roller flows back into the wash water and thus becomes lost for further use.

In those instances in which the drying of the thread is carried out on a. heated roller immediately after its sizing, incrustation on the heated'surface will take place if the thread is loaded with too much sizing solution. 4

In accordance with the present invention, all of these difficulties are easily overcome by means of a simple method and arrangement As pointed out above it has been the practice heretofore to spraythe sizing solution directly upon the treating roller over which the thread is passed. In accordance with myinvention, however, the sizing solution is first fed to a porous body in the form of sponge rubber, felt and the like, which is in contact with the surface of the rotating treating roller and which spreads the sizing solution upon the roller in an evenly distributed thin film.

One object of my invention is to provide a means and method for the continuous sizing of threads whereby a uniform amount of sizing solution is supplied to the thread.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a simple method and means for carrying out the continuous sizing of threads with a minimum'of waste of sizing solution.

A further object of the present .nvention' is to provide a means which eliminates splashing of the sizing solution on the treating roller and which prevents the formation of incrustations on the heating surface as a result of excessive quantities of sizing solution adhering to the thread.

These and other objects will partly become apparent and partly be pointed out in the following specification and claims when studied in conjunction with the attached drawing in which is shown a side elevation of a single unit of a machine. Such units may be operated individually or may be combined in a long row of units using common drive shafts, etc.

In the drawing, the numeral I indicates a spinning nozzle from which is drawn the thread 2.

The nozzle l is immersed in the spinning or precipitating bath 3 through which the thread 2 is drawn and coagulated.

A roller 4 delivers the thread to the inclined, treating cylinders 5 and 6 over which the thread there to any suitable collecting device (not.

shown).

Adiluted sulfuric acid solution or any other after-treating bath is sprayed upon the top roller from the nozzle 8 while water ofelevated temperature is sprayed upon the lower roller 8 by means of nozzle 9. These liquids 1104! along the surface of the rollers-and drip ofl at the lowerdrip pans edge thereof where they are caught by It provided with drain pipes ll.

Sizing solution is applied to the lower roller.

The advantages of this-invention are clearly apparent. By using the device illustrated in the accompanying drawing a splashing which might take place is completely eliminated while the formation of incrustations on the drying surface is materially prevented; on the other hand the treatment of the thread with a constantly accordance with the so-called continuous wet the distributing body ll. This distributing body may consist of any resilient material such as sponge, felt or the like and is held against the lower roller 6 by means of any known resilient support which in the drawing is shown as a coil spring I 6 so that a constant contact with the roller is assured. The action of the distributing body may be said to beanalogous to that of a wick used in oil lamps or the like.

The upper end of the top roller 5 is provided with a drying zone for the thread. The heating element l5 heats the surface of the roller over which the thread is passed.

The operation of the device illustratedin the drawing is asiollows. A spinning solution is extruded through the spinning nozzle I and thus the thread 2 is formed which is coagulated in the precipitating bath 3. The guide roller 4 draws the thread from the precipitating bath and passes it to the inclined cylinders 5 and 6. These cylinders are positioned at an angle to each other, and thus the thread is automatically advanced in a helical path from one end of the cylinders to the other. Through nozzles 8 and 9 the thread is treated. with after-treating solution and water since the liquids sprayed upon the cylinders 5 and 6 by the nozzles 8 and 9 flow along the surfaces of these inclined cylinders and contact the thread as it passes thereover. Following the water treatment of the thread on the lower cylinder, the thread is subjected to a sizing operation on this cylinder. The sizing solution, the supply of which may be regulated by the valve I3, is extruded through nozzle I 2 and is sprayed upon a distributing body I which may consist of any resilient porous material such as sponge, felt or the like. The distributing body is held in constant contact with the surface of the lower cylinder 5 by means of any known resilient support. The sizing solution is sprayed upon the upper surface of the distributing body. While seeping through this porous material the sizing solution is distributed uniformly and evenly therethrough and is then fed from the lower surface of the distributing body to the cylinder 6 in an even film. The suply of liquid to the distributing body is regulated through the valve l3 which is connected to the nozzle l2. After the thread has been treated with sizing solution it is passed over the heating zone on the upper cylinder 5 where it is dried, and finally it is led to any suitable take-up or twisting device.

uniform quantity of-sizing solution is assured.

Although my novel process and apparatus have been particularly described with respect to the after-treatment of artificial viscose yarn used in spinning process, it is to be understood that the invention will yield equally good results in the manufacture of filaments, yarns and threads of other regenerated celluloses, such as, for example, cuprammonium cellulose, cellulose ace- I tates, cellulose ethers, casein-fibers, etc.

It is further to be understood that the invention herewith shown and described may also be used in the continuous treatment of threads or filaments with solutions other than a sizing solution. s

It is obvious that many variations may be made in utilizing the above invention and it is not intended to limit it to the particular embodiment shown and described. The terms used in describing the invention have been used in their descriptive sense and not as terms of limitation and it is intended that all equivalents thereof be included within the scope of the appended claims.

What. I claim is: a

1. An apparatus for use in the continuous after-treatment of threads of artificial origin, comprising a pair of inclined rotatable rollers over which the thread is passed, said rollers being arranged one above the other in spaced relation, means to spray after-treating solution upon each of said rollers, means to feed sizing solution to the lower roller, porous means arranged below said feeding means and having resilient contact with the surface of the lower roller adapted to spread sizing solution in a uniform layer upon a predetermined area of the surface ofsaid lower roller, heating means adapted to heat a portion of the upper roller over which the thread is passed, and a take-up device for collecting thethread.

2. An apparatus for use in the continuous after-treatment of threads of artificial origin, comprising a pair of rotatable rollers over which the thread is passed in a substantially helical path, and distributing means adapted to spread a uniform layer of after-treating liquid upon a portion of the surface of one of said rollers, said distributing means comprising a nozzle through which after-treating liquid is extruded, means cooperating with said nozzle to regulate the supply of said liquid, and a porous body'resiliently held against the surface of one of said rollers adapted to receive after-treating liquid from said nozzle. 

